


Soul Snatchers' Extras: Wild Genius

by KJWolfe, Nikkie2571



Series: The Soul Snatchers' Saga + AUs & side stories [8]
Category: Original Work, The Soul Snatchers' Saga
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Life Debt, M/M, Master & Servant, Running Away, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-02-10 14:09:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18661951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KJWolfe/pseuds/KJWolfe, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikkie2571/pseuds/Nikkie2571
Summary: Lora knew the place he lived in was bad, he'd pretty much always known. But now he's finally able to get out, to be free.As long as he doesn't get caught.[Also on Fictionpress]





	1. Escape

**Author's Note:**

> This story is *not* directly related to The Soul Snatchers' Saga, but it does take place in the same universe.
> 
> It is also very very very slightly inspired by “It's Not as Easy as Just Wandering into A Forest and Killing the Witch” by AntagonizedPenguin. Hopefully, though, it comes off as significantly different. ~ Nikkie2571

Escaping the city was much easier than Lora thought it would be, the walls around the district proving to be not much of an obstacle. However, finding somewhere to live, to continue to escape? That was going to be the tougher challenge, one that Lora didn’t know if he had the ability to get through.

Lora wasn’t stupid, he had brought seeds, a lot of dense food, and a bow and arrows he had made himself, but tools alone did not make him able to survive or evade capture if anyone came to look for him. As he ran, Lora could feel the runic brand on his arm pulse with the hum of magic, tracking him and trying to pull him back to the cage of a city he used to live in.

For his first free night, Lora didn’t even bother with a fire to keep warm, preferring to remain as undetectable as possible. Instead, he pulled the green cloak he wore tighter around himself, hoping it and his fur would be enough to keep him warm in the night.

Despite all his precautions though, Lora woke in the morning to see riders in the distance. As soon as this fact registered Lora was off, running as fast as his paws would carry him, right into the forest.

Stopping wasn’t an option, nor was hiding or fancy movements through the trees. All that mattered was distance and hope that the dense trees would slow the approach of his trackers.

Despite that, he could feel them locating him with the brand, getting closer to catching him, he just didn’t know  _ how close _ . Tears formed in his eyes. Lora didn’t want to go back, but even as he ran more, he knew it was practically inevitable that he would be caught.

Lora ran non-stop for nearly half an hour, and at long last, he could feel it, the slowing as he lost more and more energy, as he lost speed. But, just before he gave up and just stopped, he saw hope. In the distance was a clearing with a building.

With possibility now ahead of him, Lora sped up, forcing himself to run faster towards the building. Too tired to properly stop himself, Lora ran right into the door with a smack. After shaking off the shock of his sudden stop he then pounded his fist on the door, dreading the possibility that whoever lived there wasn’t home. Painful moments passed where nothing happened. Dread slowly settled more and more in Lora’s stomach, but eventually, the door opened, and standing in its frame was a creature Lora thought he would never  _ ever _ see. A human.

The man looked down at him, his black eyes full of a mix of surprise, fear, and confusion. Lora didn’t waste a second, jumping right into his plea. 

“P-please!” Lora said, putting every bit of his remaining hope into his request. “Please help me! I don’t care how you do it, but please keep me away from that place! I don’t care if you kill me, I don’t want to go back!”

The man stared at him, face carefully blank in a way that gave Lora a sense of fearful foreboding. Stronger than that, however, was the fear that the pulse of his brand instilled in him. Lora looked over his shoulder, scared that they had somehow caught up to him.

Turning back to the man, Lora tried again. “Please, sir!” He cried, tears actually forming in his eyes from his desperation. “They’re after me and I don’t know how long it will be until they get here! Please! Either help me or kill me!”

The man’s head tilted slightly, his expression now mildly curious, as if the whole ordeal were below him.

“How are they tracking you?” He asked, his words accented strangely.

Tears flowed down Lora’s cheeks, his fur getting damp in the process.

“Th-they… I have a brand on me, it’s like identification,” he said, voice wet. Lora then lifted his arm, revealing the burn mark that was his brand to the man.

The man made a thoughtful hum. “I’ll have to burn you again to remove that.”

“Anything is better than going back to that city,” Lora said vehemently.

The man smiled, his expression almost haughty. “Well then, come right in,” he said.

Walking into the house revealed a simple room, it had a fireplace and was filled to the brim with a mess of parchment and open books spread over many desks and tables. The walls were lined with shelves filled with a variety of objects, from books to bottles to plants. There was also a stairway to an upper level off in one corner, next to a doorway to another part of the house.

The man walked over to the fireplace and lit it, filling the room with warm light and heat. He then reached over, grabbed an iron rod and placed it into the fire.

“I hope you realize that in doing this, you owe your life to me,” the man said, turning around to face Lora. “Wherever you ran from, you did so for a reason. Is that reason strong enough to remain here as my servant?”

Lora’s mind froze, preventing him from answering. How could he? He had left the city to escape it’s oppression, only to fall right back into more of it. So, Lora didn’t answer.

“I promise that as my servant you will come to no harm, but you must answer quickly. You don’t have much time,” the man said.

Lora began to panic, his thoughts jumbling together like fallen stones.

“I guess...” He said, trailing off into a mumble. “I guess being one person’s servant is better than being back in that prison of a city.”

The man nodded, a proper smile framing his face. “Good choice,” he said. “Now come over here.” The man pulled the iron rod from the fire, the metal tip glowing a hot red.

Lora walked over slowly, knowing just how much this would hurt made him fearful despite the necessity. When he reached the man, he stood, looking down at his own bare feet, his clawed toes looking so very wild in comparison to the man’s boots.

The man grabbed his arm and without any warning pressed the edge of the rod along the length of Lora’s previous branding, running a new mark right through it.

Lora screamed, the intense heat felt like it was running through his whole forearm, burning him inside and out.

The man pulled the rod away from Lora’s arm, placed it back on the hanging stand he had gotten it from and then practically leapt to one of his tables. He quickly wrote something on a piece of parchment and then wrapped it around Lora’s new burn. Slowly Lora felt the heat of the burn fade away, leaving his arm feeling numb.

“You’ll want to keep that on there for a while,” the man said gently.  There was light coming off of his forehead, shaped in an angular pattern that reached up his draconic horns.

“Okay,” Lora replied, too stunned and overwhelmed at the moment to say much more.

The man’s eyes raked their way over Lora’s body, looking him over. “You should get some rest. There’s a bedroom you can use upstairs.”

“I… Alright,” Lora muttered, still not entirely back to himself.

Slowly he made his way up the stairs, being brought up to a hallway with 2 doors, only one of which was open. Through the open door was a bedroom with nothing but a single bed and a window. Too drained to do anything else, Lora crawled on top and instantly passed out.


	2. Duties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A servant must know their duties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had most of this already written up when I posted the first chapter, but it was partway through writing this second chapter when my interest died. I've managed to complete this chapter, but most likely all future chapters will be written by the other author. However, I will very likely offer my assistance and feedback to him, since he is not the creator of the world this story is set in.  
> I just don't find myself capable of *writing this story* anymore.

When Lora awoke, there was early morning sunlight falling through the window. The light also fell upon the face of Lora’s rescuer, who had apparently joined Lora in the bed at some point. Lora didn’t know how to feel about that. The bed obviously belonged to the man, but it felt weird to wake up and suddenly be sharing a bed, especially since Lora had not done so since he was a child.

A little awkwardly, Lora sat up and actually took in the room, now that he was rested enough to care. To his surprise, Lora noticed he had missed a few pieces of small furniture in the room during his initial look over. There was a small desk and chair off in the corner by the door.

‘ _ Perhaps for late night note taking, or reading? _ ’ Lora thought.

Careful not to wake up his bedmate, Lora quietly got off the bed. Being awake now, his time was better used for exploring the house.

Heading back downstairs brought Lora back to the man’s main study, or what Lora thought was his study, considering the number of books and paper. Right in the middle of the room though was something unexpected: Lora’s cloak and pack. Apparently, he had lost them.

Looking down at himself, Lora realized he was quite bare by human standards, wearing only an open-backed tunic that barely covered his hips. With a mild dose of shame, Lora put his cloak back on, hoping his lack of clothes had not upset the man.

Normally Lora wouldn’t be quiet this ashamed, clothes were practically optional in the city where even the weather was controlled, but humans were historically known to be very sensitive. Well... if the history books were to be believed, that is.

Unwilling to mess with anything in the room, and stuck with nothing else to observe here, Lora moved onto the next room, which was a kitchen. It had many stoves and storage compartments. Everything in the room was covered in runes, mostly for temperature control, but Lora would have to look closer to be sure.

“Do you know how to cook?” asked the man from behind Lora. His question, let alone the fact he was awake was such a startling surprise that Lora flinched before turning and facing the man who owned his life.

“I do, why?” Lora asked slowly.

“Because I was considering it to be one of your duties, perhaps along with cleaning and gardening,” the man replied.

Lora blinked. He had expected to have duties, but for some reason, the mundanity of the tasks surprised him. Though, Lora supposed he did not know what else the man would have had him do.

Suddenly, Lora realized that he didn’t even know the man’s name. A grave mistake.

“Um, sir?” Lora said timidly. “May I ask your name?”

This time, the man blinked, apparently realizing neither individual knew the other’s name.

“I am Willadel,” he said. “Willadel Floric.”

“Lora.”

Willadel made a confused expression. “No family name?”

“No, sir,” Lora confirmed. “I have no family. I was raised by a chef who found me in an alley. While he was kind, he did not want my achievements attached to his family directly.”

“How… interesting.” The man’s face was carefully blank, Lora couldn’t pick up any information from it, neither judgement nor pity.

Lora pulled his arms around himself, suddenly feeling like the room had lost a little heat.

“Um… Are there any other duties you will have me perform?” Lora asked.

Willadel flicked his gaze up and down Lora’s body a few times. “Mmmm, maybe.”

Lora didn’t know what to make of that “maybe”. It could either be nothing or something really bad. But he couldn’t really do anything about it right now.

“And… uh, is there anything I’m  _ not _ supposed to do?” Lora hoped there weren’t too many restrictions.

The man smiled. “Take off your cloak.”

Lora blinked. “Why?”

“Because with all your fur I’m fairly sure you’re going to be very very hot if you keep it on.”

Lora was suspicious of Willadel’s words, fairly sure they weren’t the truth, but he couldn’t  _ prove _ it. So, slowly, he untied the knot that kept his cloak in place.

“Also,” Willadel said while Lora was in the middle of following his request. “This way, you’ll be much nicer to look at.”

Lora froze. “I’ll… what?”

Willadel smiled again. “You’ll be nicer to look at.”

“O-oh.” Lora felt oddly flattered.

“As for actual restrictions… If you touch anything, you must tell me, there are some dangerous things in this house and you could get hurt.”

Lora looked off to the side. “That’s quite thoughtful of you.”

Willadel hummed. “I assure you, it’s entirely for my own peace of mind.”

Lora could hear the joking tone in his voice. With how things were progressing he almost wanted to properly trust this man, rather than just respect him as a saviour. But he couldn’t do that yet, that would be quite dumb, and Lora was not dumb.

A thought passed through Lora’s mind and he realized that he was, in fact, maybe a little bit dumb.

“Sir… Where will I sleep?”

Willadel smiled,  looking almost dangerous . “You’re my servant, you’ll sleep in my bed, as you’ve already done. You’re quite warm.”

Lora didn’t know how to feel about that, or really any of what was going on.

“Of course, sir.”

Willadel’s eyes glinted. “Good boy.”

Lora shivered, a sensation of emotion running up his spine and planting at the base of his skull.

He wasn’t sure what it was, or if it was good or bad. No matter what though, he was sure following that emotion would only lead to something very bad.


End file.
